Going For Water

Introduction

As the title suggests, the speaker and their companion are sent on an adventure with their “pail and can” to collect water from a brook located somewhere in the woods. Their journey takes them from the safety of their home and their familiar fields into a landscape of joyful freedom and exciting uncertainty.

Going For Water

The well was dry beside the door,
And so we went with pail and can
Across the fields behind the house
To seek the brook if still it ran;

Not loth to have excuse to go,
Because the autumn eve was fair
(Though chill) because the fields were ours,
And by the brook our woods were there.

We ran as if to meet the moon
That slowly dawned behind the trees,
The barren boughs without the leaves,
Without the birds, without the breeze.

But once within the wood, we paused
Like gnomes that hid us from the moon,
Ready to run to hiding new
With laughter when she found us soon.

Each laid on other a staying hand
To listen ere we dared to look,
And in the hush we joined to make
We heard—we knew we heard—the brook.

A note as from a single place,
A slender tinkling fall that made
Now drops that floated on the pool
Like pearls, and now a silver blade.

Growing Up

The poem begins with a reference to the well “beside the door” being “dry” and ends with an image of water drops floating on the “pool” until they freeze into a “silver blade”. The story arc progresses from the comfort of the speaker’s home, signified by the “door”, to the more dangerous and exotic woodland.

The characters in the story are children who are eager explore the world and their imagination through play. Even though fetching water is often considered a chore, the speaker is “not loth to have excuse to go”. It is worth noting that the poem is written in loose iambic tetrameter with a abcb rhyme scheme. There is a child-like rhythm created by these short lines of eight syllables with the rhyme always pushing towards the end of each stanza with a tone of excitement and anticipation.

The speaker must venture into this new world because there is no longer any water available in the old well. This could be an analogy for childhood – we can only learn so much at home and we need to leave that safe space behind to find ourselves in the world.

Setting

The poem is set on a “fair” but “chill” autumn night in the woods. There is no breeze, but the “boughs” are already “barren”. This melancholic tone suggests it is now closer to the cold darkness of winter. Perhaps the children, in their innocence, fail to recognise the harsh reality of the world.

The Woods

This is a story describing the children going for water, so the title positions the reader’s attention towards the journey rather than the poem’s ambivalent conclusion. Perhaps, Frost wants us to consider the importance of the past rather than the bleak present. This is especially true since he wrote the poem for his wife to celebrate the wonderful moment they shared when they explored Hayla Brook.

The image of woods often symbolises the uncharted wilderness which is full of adventure and danger. A good example of this connotation is Frost’s “Into My Own” and the wider significance is certainly true in “Going for Water”.

However, the description of the woods also suggests the speaker will be unsuccessful in his quest. Frost achieves this by defining the landscape by what it is not. The trees are “without leaves” which reminds the reader of the better weather when the trees are full. The speaker then mentions the “boughs” are “without the birds”. Presumably, they have already migrated to a warmer climate. There is also no “breeze”.

The triple of litotes in the third stanza emphasises the emptiness of the scene. Frost also changes the rhyming pattern to abbb. The long vowel sounds in these end-rhymes create a quiet and pleasant tone when the children move slowly and carefully through the woods. Of course, the stillness foreshadows the quietness at the end of the poem as well.

Foreshadowing

The poet uses other images to set up the ambivalent ending. For example, the “well was dry beside our door” would imply its source might also be dry. In fact, the speaker questions “if” the brook is “still” flowing. If the fourth line is delivered in iambic tetrameter, then the stress falls on the adverb “still”:

To seek | the brook | if still | it ran

Notice how Frost manipulates the syntax of the clause by shifting the word “still” to emphasise the uncertainty. The line could easily have been written as “to seek the brook if it still ran” but the rhythm would not achieve the same impact. In this context, the word refers the idea of the “brook” continuing to flow, but it can also mean to be motionless when used as an adjective or verb. In this way, the poet creates an interesting paradox between “still” and “ran” and foreshadows the poem’s conclusion.

Of course, the third foot in this example could be a spondee so the stress also falls on the adverb “if”. Again, this would reinforce the speaker’s doubt.

Other examples are not as subtle. In the second stanza, the speaker describes the “autumn eve” as “fair”, but they also include “though chill” in parenthesis. It is a pleasant evening and the colder weather goes almost unnoticed. It is as if the speaker wants to ignore the threat of winter and focus on the exciting journey into the woods.

Perspective in Going for Water

The use of the past tense locates obviously locates the story in the past. The child’s imagination is epitomised by the simile “like gnomes that hid us from the moon” because the comparison adds a fairy tale quality to their journey through the darkness. The reference the gnomes draws attention to the speaker’s imagination and suggests he feels their adventure is almost supernatural.

At the start of the third verse, the speaker mentions how they “ran as of to meet the moon”. The impossibility of this idea suggests they have yet to learn about the limitations of the world. The hyperbole shows the reader they see fetching water as an amazing adventure rather than a chore.

Companionship

In the second verse, Frost states the “fields” and “woods” belong to them, so they feel safe enough to venture into the darkness together to collect the water. Later in the poem, the image of the two children “each laid on other a staying hand” suggests a loving and protective relationship between the characters.

Their companionship, trust and “laughter” are essential if they are going to reach the brook. Frost felt the same connection was important between himself and his wife, Elinor.

The early 1900s was an incredibly traumatic time for the family. They lost their first child, Eliot, unnecessarily to cholera in 1900 and then another baby, Elinor Bettina, died just one day after her birth in 1907. Despite wanting to earn his living from writing poetry, Frost worked his farm and taught at school to put food on the table.

He made the huge decision to immigrate with his wife and four children to England to pursue his literary career in 1912. “Going for Water” was published in his first collection “A Boy’s Will” in 1913. Dedicating the book to Elinor was a way of publicly acknowledging her immense support during those darker days.

The Brook

Both children “hush” and listen out for “the brook”. There is an awareness of audience in the use of parenthesis: “we knew we heard”. Perhaps Frost is speaking directly to his wife at this point. It is quite dramatic.

However, the promise and certainty expressed in the phrase “we knew” is not realised at the end of the poem. The brook is frozen – reduced to a brief “note”. The onomatopoeic “tinkling” suggests the woods are so quiet they can hear the sound of water dripping from this “single place”.

The poet compares the “drops” to “pearls”. The simile is open to interpretation. Pearls are a traditional symbol of wisdom and serenity. They are given to a loved one to signify the strength of the relationship. They are beautiful. They can represent the journey to enlightenment. According to legend, Eve’s tears turned into white pearls after they were exiled from the garden of Eden. Perhaps all these connotations are relevant.

The final image compares the frozen water to “a silver blade”. The metaphor is appropriate because both are long, sharp and reflect the light. In contrast to the innocence of pearls, blades connote violence and destruction, giving the conclusion to the poem a menacing tone. The shocking juxtaposition emphasises their feelings of disappointment and failure.

Comprehension Questions

1. What do you think Frost was hoping to achieve with the title?
2. What might the “dry” well signify in the opening line?
3. Frost notes that the “well” is “beside the door”. What might the proximity of the “door” to the speaker’s house symbolise?
4. The speakers take their “pail and can”. In a poem heavy with symbolism, what might these objects symbolise?
5. How does the speaker feel about fetching water at the start of the second stanza? Explore lines five to seven in detail, especially how he describes the weather and the fields.
6. What impression is created of the speaker in the hyperbole “we ran as if to meet the moon”?
7. What technique does Frost use to draw the reader’s attention to the “barren boughs”? Why might the poet want to emphasise the setting?
8. Frost repeats the word “without” three times in the third stanza. What impact does this triplet have on the reader?
9. The speaker moves into the “woods” from the “fields”. What might this transition signify?
10. Explore the effect of the simile in the fourth stanza that compares the children to“gnomes”.
11. Suggest why the poet personifies the moon in the fourth stanza.
12. How do the children feel at the end of the fourth stanza?
13. Why do the children hold hands at the start of the fifth stanza? Has the mood changed or have they learnt something about each other?
14. Suggest why the poet compares water drops to “pearls” in the final stanza.
15. Why does he then compare the drops to “silver blades”? Why is this an effective metaphor?
16. How does the form of the poem reinforce its themes?